Those with Yellow top Optimas

WSS

Rock Stacker
Optima Jim/Nimbus: I am currently an Optima Yellow Top owner (D34), but please, without taking offense or dishing out any B.S., let me play the devil's advocate for a moment...
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I take notice of one thing, that those with long-lived Optima batteries are always owners of the "old" (good?) batteries. 2007 was the move south to Mexico for assembly/production? Then a "new" battery could only be about 7/8 years old. I don't see many piping in about much except that they changed to different battery. This does concern me as well as many others, of course.
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Great customer service isn't going to do anyone any good at all if they're 50-100 (or more) miles off road somewhere when a battery, or any component for that matter, takes a puke. That's a long walk in anyone's book.

Help me out here... Thanks! (feel free to PM me)

None of mine are over 7/8 years old. Customer service is not why I run TWO yellow tops, it's because I do NOT want to walk out or borrow a battery. Optima had a "FEW" batteries fail and the word went out on the internet that they were no good anymore. I am sure Optima fixed what ever quality issue they found.

For 25 years, I have owned the company I work for. During that time, I have made MANY mistakes. Luckily, my customers were willing to work with me on a solution, in order to make a better product. Some of those mistakes were hiring idiots, lazy people, anti-social people and just plain old in-experienced people. The problems get worse the further they are from you. Hopefully, people will let me know rather than spew it as gossip. Just a simple email saying, hey you know the guy that ......, might want to train him better or whatever his problem appears to be.
 

stingray1300

Explorer
Am I to assume that Optima Jim or Nimbus Engineering have nothing to say? My freakin' battery saver kicked off twice today. It never did it with the OEM battery.
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Am I to assume that Optima batteries are all advertising and hype (like K&N filters)? Or is someone going to make a definitively advanced defense of these questionable (not to mention expensive) components?
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Inquiring minds would really like to know (before I trade my Optima in on a case of "presumed defect" and "no confidence")...
 

WSS

Rock Stacker
Am I to assume that Optima Jim or Nimbus Engineering have nothing to say? My freakin' battery saver kicked off twice today. It never did it with the OEM battery.
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Am I to assume that Optima batteries are all advertising and hype (like K&N filters)? Or is someone going to make a definitively advanced defense of these questionable (not to mention expensive) components?
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Inquiring minds would really like to know (before I trade my Optima in on a case of "presumed defect" and "no confidence")...

Was your oem batt a lead acid?
 

OptimaJim

Observer
I apologize for my delay in responding. This seems to be one of those boards that I always struggle with on thread subscriptions. stingray1300, I've read most of the chatter about our products on hundreds of different forums and all the common narratives. If there was a plan to cut costs and compromise quality, while riding on the coattails of the brand's equity, that strategy (and the brand) would've died out or been sold off several years ago. The fact is, a brand-new, state-of-the-art production facility was built from the ground-up to make product quality and consistency even better and it has done exactly that. I sat on our monthly global call this morning and listened to our plant engineers talking about the incredible lengths they are now going to, in order to fine-tune the production process even more, to make the smallest of improvements in quality. They've been working at this technology for several decades, so the they've pretty much turned over all the stones and are now looking under some pretty small pebbles.

What's been interesting for me in reading these conversations are the ones where people switched away from our products several years ago and now find themselves switching brands again, because they are encountering the same issues. Sometimes they return to us, while other times, they are convinced there's not a manufacturer left on the planet who makes a battery worth buying.

It's interesting that you've had one of our batteries in your 2013 F-150 since 2014. What was it about the OEM battery that made you switch after just a year of use? I happen to have a 2013 Flex (it's my wife's driver) and I have the same battery nanny system shutting my radio off every time I'm cleaning it in my driveway. I find it frustrating as well, especially when I measure the voltage at 12.3 volts and know it's not a big deal to discharge it a little longer, as long as I put it on a charger afterwards.

That is the nature of new vehicles and I'll at least give credit to the manufacturers for recognizing the tremendous electrical demands they now place on their batteries and charging systems. They know if a battery gets deeply-discharged, the alternator may not fully-recharge it, the customer will get into a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts and probably take it in under warranty (new BMWs have to have replacement batteries "registered" with their charging systems). Manufacturers would much rather avoid that type of warranty service, by preventing the battery from getting deeply-discharged in the first place and shutting the vehicle down early. My '92 Silverado on the other hand is more than willing to discharge my YellowTop well below 10 volts anytime I'd like.

So your YellowTop should be fully-charged at about 13.0-13.2 volts. Usually when our battery or any other shows a reading of 13.4 volts or higher, it's a surface charge and not the fully-charged state. 13.2 volts fully-charged is really on the higher end for a 12-volt battery. Our RedTops are actually fully-charged at about 12.6-12.8 volts and most flooded batteries are considered 100% at 12.6 volts.

I don't know who you spoke with at 4WP Truck Fest, but it was not an employee of our company or one of our representatives, as we did not have a presence there (we do have three big rigs that do set up at events around the country). 4Wheel Parts is one of our retail partners, so it is possible you spoke to one of their retail associates. Just to be clear, there are no computers inside our batteries and unfortunately, that is not the worst story I've heard attributed to our products. When a product has tens of thousands of retailers, it's always going to be a challenge to get sales associates trained on your technology, especially when it's one of hundreds or even thousands of SKUs in their system.

To put your mind at ease regarding voltage, I would tell you that your battery should really only come into use when you are starting your truck or when you run accessories with the engine off and Ford will make sure you don't overdo the key-off use. Once it is started, the alternator should be able to supply enough current to power all the electrical components and get the battery topped back off. As I mentioned before, the fully-charged voltage range of our batteries can vary between about 12.6-13.2 volts. That could get even broader if you throw other brands and manufacturers into the mix, as well as older batteries that may not hold voltage like they did when new. Ford doesn't know what battery you are going to run, how old it will be, how hot or cold your climate will be or what abuse you might put it through, so they plan accordingly and conservatively, making sure their systems can provide the electricity needed to run the vehicle and keep the battery maintained. We suggest typical alternator output should be in the range of about 13.7-14.7 volts, which should be plenty to keep any of our batteries in good shape. If someone's alternator was only producing 13.0 volts, it may never fully-charge their battery, which could lead to problems if the battery ever got fully-discharged. Alternators are also regulated, so they won't overcharge your battery, if they are operating properly. The YellowTop in the Silverado I mentioned kept starting the 350 until we discharged the battery below 8 volts, so you should have plenty of room to spare with your Ecoboost.

As WSS indicated, we have had batteries fail from manufacturing defects, as has every other manufacturer on the planet. The percentage of failures from manufacturing defects are very low by industry standards and our parent company manufactures a good percentage of the batteries in this country and we never stop testing the others, so we know where we stand. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us now end up getting recharged and installed in cars racing in the ChumpCar World Series, because they were “discharge-only” warranty returns. Sometimes the retailers didn't know any better, other times, an angry customer didn't want to wait around for their battery to charge back up. Regardless of how they get there, the ChumpCar guys are pretty happy about it and we're glad we're not recycling a bunch of batteries that still have plenty of life left in them. We're not the only brand that deals with that issue either. Read the warranty language on some other popular brands and you'll see exclusions for batteries discharged below a minimum voltage level.

That's probably too much battery information for some folks, so I'll stop now.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.instagram.com/optimabatteries
 

stingray1300

Explorer
Jim, thank you very much for the extensive reply. You must have it memorized for knuckleheads like me...
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What was it about the OEM battery that made you switch after just a year of use?
I have modified my FX4 for actual "off roading" (gasp!) and wanted the vibration resistance. I intend on adding a 1000 watt inverter, and I have a bunch of added electronics. Nothing was wrong with the OEM battery, but last year I was getting the truck ready for a month-long trip to the Arctic Circle in the Yukon and Alaska. I like padding my bets the best I can...
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Sometimes the retailers didn't know any better, other times, an angry customer didn't want to wait around for their battery to charge back up.
Why would the battery need charging? There are thread comments about special chargers needed for Optimas anyway. True? I drive my truck nearly daily. I don't have to do any special charging do I?
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Thanks for your time Jim
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Until Jim can get back with you, check out Optima's Youtube channel. I use it all the time.



this is me and the wife with Grubby at the Atlanta Motor Speedway; we actually did talk about batteries too...
109_crop.jpg


then a video I took of him racing
 

geordie4x4

Observer
Hey Dyogim,
I have four Optima batteries. Two for cranking and winching duties under the hood and one big Yellow in the back for the fridge running from a solar panel.
The oldest yellowtop is roughly 12 years and spent the first few years in a work boat. They were going to throw it out as it had been discharged and left for dead for around six months. I took it home and recovered it with charging several times on a Cteck charger. It has been used on a solar panel and running my fridge for 6 or 8 years then started to reduce its capacity to less than 50% so I replaced it with a new bigger Yellow. But never say die, I still charge it up and keep using it for LED camp lights in my camper trailer and it is still holding a charge and performing reasonably well for the task.
 

dyogim

Explorer
Hey Dyogim,
I have four Optima batteries. Two for cranking and winching duties under the hood and one big Yellow in the back for the fridge running from a solar panel.
The oldest yellowtop is roughly 12 years and spent the first few years in a work boat. They were going to throw it out as it had been discharged and left for dead for around six months. I took it home and recovered it with charging several times on a Cteck charger. It has been used on a solar panel and running my fridge for 6 or 8 years then started to reduce its capacity to less than 50% so I replaced it with a new bigger Yellow. But never say die, I still charge it up and keep using it for LED camp lights in my camper trailer and it is still holding a charge and performing reasonably well for the task.

Thanks for the input and sharing your experience. Good to know I can at least use it for lighter duty connections when I decide to replace it.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Thanks for the input and sharing your experience. Good to know I can at least use it for lighter duty connections when I decide to replace it.
I know of a trailer shop that uses an ancient YellowTop to test trailer wiring. You don't need much amperage and he just charges it back up once in a while and wheels it around the shop.
LED camp lighting has created a whole new niche for old Optimas.
 

trailscape

Explorer
I've had a Yellowtop 34/78 in the back of my truck since early 2013. It runs my ARB fridge and keeps charge with a 100w solar panel. I haven't had any issues yet, but on these really hot days I think I could use a little extra juice either in battery or solar charging.
 

OptimaJim

Observer
Hi stingray1300, I again apologize for my delay in responding. Even if the e-mail notifications on this board worked for me, I was in the field last weekend, followed by a charity event in Seattle, followed by an all-day planning meeting yesterday. Most of the batteries that come into retailers for warranty service, whether it is an Optima or any other brand, are just discharged and will work fine, when properly-recharged. We get a lot of seasonality with that too, especially as folks are bringing toys out of storage for the summer. That can sometimes back up a retailer to the point where they'll ask if they can take the battery overnight to charge and check it. Some folks are understanding in that regard, but there are a few who want an immediate resolution.

By the way, I was thinking of you last night, as I was trying to catch up on work in the Flex, while I sat in the parking lot in between my son's summer league games. I wasn't playing the radio very loudly at all and the car still shut down after about 20 minutes.

As that video Bill posted (thank you) indicates, most chargers work just fine on our batteries. We only discourage folks from using the “gel” or “gel/AGM” settings, as those settings may not fully-charge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. The confusion comes in, because some folks don't realize gel and AGM batteries are two different technologies (and some charger manufacturers only add to the confusion in that regard) and the limited charging profile for a gel battery may not be ideal for any other type of battery.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.instagram.com/optimabatteries
 

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